Improvement in fire-escapes



. B. GATHRIGHT Fire-Escapes.

Patented July 14, 1 874.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIOE.

JOSIAH B. GATHR-IGHT, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN FlRE-ESCAPES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,902, dated Jnly'14, 1874; application filed December 1, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSIAH B. GATHRIGHT, of the city of Louisville, county of Jefferson, State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Fire-Escape; and I hereby declare the following to be a full and accurate description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making a part of this specification.

In the drawings, A is a rope, wire, or other suitable line, of sufficient strength to sustain the weight of one or more persons, having one end secured at or near the window or other opening from which it may be desired to escape, and preferably long enough for the other end to reach the ground when held at an incline of forty-tit e degrees, more or less. B is a belt of any suitable material, one end of which terminates with aloop or ring, C, while the other end is provided with a hook or clasp, D, which hook may be readily clasped or hooked upon the rope or wire A. This construction of the belt is preferred, as it enables one, however nervous and excited, to quickly and effectually secure it about the body by simply passing it around beneath the arms and looping by passing the hook-end through the ring. The hook, which, for greater security, should be a snap or closing hook, may then be clasped or hooked upon the rope, and if this be held at a slant by persons below, the person escaping will slide down it without pain, injury, or any considerable danger. To prevent a too rapid descent the small lever or cam E is pivoted inthe back of the hook, so that when the cord F is drawn by the person who is sliding down, the lever presses against the rope and serves as a brake or check. This speed may also, to some extent, be regulated automatically by making the hook double or wide at the eye, thus giving a long claspingsurface to the eye, and attaching the belt to the hook at right angles to this eye, as seen in the drawings. The weight or draft, being directly downward or perpendicular,

will tend always to keep this eye horizontal, and hence the friction of the rope in the eye will increase as the rope approximates to a perpendicular position, and vice versa. Galvanized wire may be used to advantage as a fixed line of escape, by attaching one end securely to one side of an upper window or door, and securing the other end to the ground, giving the wire a suitable slant, or upon the roof, or in the window of an adjacent house. In the latter case the wire may oftentimes have very little decline, being attached to a window but one story below the starting-point. In case the rope is kept coiled in upper rooms to throw out as a line ofescape, the lower end may be caught by persons below and carried to a slant from the building out of the reach of flames that may project from the lower windows, or, in case of narrow streets particularly, may be caught up and secured firmly within a window of an opposite house, into which parties may escape.

It will be seen that, in whatever position the rope or wire may be held or secured, my

invention affords a safe and rapid escape along it, and that by means which cost a mere trifle, and so simple as to be readily used, even by women and children.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The belt B, having its two ends pro vided, respectively, with hook and loop, in combination with the line A, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The belt B, hook D, and brake E, in combination with the line A, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 28th day of November, 1873.

JOSIAH B. GATHRIG-HT.

\Vitnesscs JOHN M. FARRAR, LIN. G. HERNDON. 

